Uncelebrated Victory
by Laryna6
Summary: Devil Survivor: Overclocked, all route spoilers. When almost everything you've fought so hard for thousands of years to achieve is handed to you on a silver platter, there's only one thing to do: Party! So: the reincarnation of Cain walks into a bar... Alone.
1. Chapter 1

_During and post-Yuzu's Eighth Day: spoilers for all endings & Eighth Days of Devil Survivor: Overclocked. _

_Minor crossover with Shin Megami Tensei I. Gen except for discussion of Abel/Haru, because I like the thought of them and I have a theory about Haru's knowledge of the primal common tongue (Aya got the song from her in the first place). _

_This is based on Yuzu's route, and something that intrigued me about that route in the original game is that Naoya is much nicer in it than he is even in Atsuro's, when Atsuro is his apprentice. Here the MC is endangering the world and throwing away all Naoya's work by not facing the Bels, and yet instead of haranguing him about it Naoya just helps him and assigns himself the riskiest part of a plan to allow his brother and his friends to escape the Lockdown._

_I think that it shows, like the final battle of Amane's Eighth in Overclocked, that when it comes down to it, Naoya wants his brother to survive and that's more important than his war with God. Naoya gives up his ambitions for the sake of his brother… And then he's rewarded with Metatron just handing him most of what Naoya has been working for on a silver platter. _

* * *

"Whew," said Gin, surveying the buckets of water he'd carried from the park since the water wasn't on inside his bar. "Time to get to work."

He'd opened his bar the night before while he waited for the final option the kids had told him about to annihilate everything. Yuzu and Kazuya were going to be disappointed they'd missed one of Haru's best shows. When they hadn't died on schedule he'd figured that the kids had made it past the Lockdown and they were saved, but then the SDF and angels started showing up everywhere.

Gin had kept a low profile from the beginning instead of flashing his comp or his demons, so he was fine unless someone talked. Since the kids had probably escaped and Azuma's goons were probably holed up with the other Shomonkai at the Hills Building (being a bartender, Gin was pretty tuned in to what was going on in this city), Gin wasn't too worried.

The kids coming back and telling him that everywhere outside the lockdown was just as bad, just angels instead of demons wasn't good, but there wasn't anything he could do about it, not yet. He was still hoping that something would come along: Take-Mikazuchi had made a contract with him to protect Japan, right? And it definitely needed protecting.

In the meantime, he was just going to open his bar again, serve drinks again to people who were definitely going to need a drink after surviving another day of this Lockdown and hopefully serve the kids those non-alcoholic drinks he'd promised them. If they survived. If he didn't have the SDF battering down his door to capture them, or angels blowing it away.

Then there were the demons talking about the power of Bel, like the Belial guy that had been after Haru. Haru was going around right now, but he wanted her back here well before sunset. Even if there wasn't anything he could do about Japan, he wasn't going to fail to protect Aya's apprentice.

Not after failing Aya.

That rat bastard… Talking with her about demons and the song he'd used for the comps right in Gin's own bar, leaving a comp like he'd known all this was going to happen… Gin wrung out the washcloth he was using to wipe down the bar with unnecessary force. If he ever saw that Naoya again he'd –

The bell attached to the door rang as someone came in.

"We're not open yet, but if you're looking for a safe place to wait it out," Gin started to say as he heard the clatter of wood on wood, someone in old fashioned sandals walking toward his bar, "I could use a hand cleaning the place up."

"That's fine, I'm not here for the ambiance," the man said, swinging himself down onto a barstool. "I'm here because this is one of the only stocks of alcohol left in the city that hasn't been looted, and I have something to celebrate."

That made Gin raise an eyebrow, counting up the glasses he had left to wash. The guy sounded dangerous, but not quite like Yakuza: it was a calculated risk for Gin to turn his back to him like this, as well as a calculated insult. "I'm not selling it for yen nor macca until I open, but if you don't mind being a busboy, I guess I could pay you in shots."

"Hmm, I suppose I could set everything up for later," the man said, clinking sounds on the countertop as he toyed with a glass he must have picked up on the way. "You'll need someone to guard the bar for you, since you're going to be busy soon: I'd hate to pace myself, but I suppose I could set up a few comps?"

"Set up a few comps?" What? That made Gin turn about. "You! You bastard!" His hands thumped down on the bar, leaning over it to face down the silver-haired man, who looked anything but intimidated. Truth to tell, those red eyes made it a little hard for Gin's street-honed instincts not to make him back down a bit, assess the guy since he was clearly dangerous. Still, "Did Azuma tell you what I said to him? Well, that goes for you too, and you dare show your face in front of me, after…" Aya!

"After I gave you a comp with all the safety precautions removed so that you could _rescue _that lover of yours?" Naoya asked, looking distinctly unimpressed as he folded his arms within the sleeves of his haori. "You were hanging around their headquarters on the first day of the Lockdown, and Azuma had been obvious enough about picking her up and dropping her off. After I parted ways with the Shomonkai, they were looking for me since Belberith soon found that my server wouldn't let him do as he pleased to Babel, among other things. I couldn't tip my hand too early by breaking her out before the confusion started, not when Azuma had already threatened to bring in this Haru as a replacement if Aya disappeared on him, so Aya would have refused to go with me. I couldn't afford to have them start doubting my loyalty too soon and looking for hostages to secure _my _cooperation, not when I had my little cousin to worry about. After the Lockdown started, I was still busy setting up extra features for Comp users to enable them to _survive_."

"So you thought you'd use me as your pawn to rescue Aya and protect her during the Lockdown, as payback for using her music to make that program of yours?" Gin remembered finding out that Aya's song was in the comps. "Are you saying it's my fault I didn't find her fast enough?" If he hadn't had his attention split worrying about Haru, if he hadn't been so reluctant to go around flashing demons, if he'd _done more_, Aya would have been okay?

Did Naoya really need to say that, after Gin had said it himself? "I didn't find out she'd died until you did." Which was embarrassing, but he was only human. He was well aware of the limitations remaining that way forced upon him.

"You were there?"

"No, I have my cousin and his friends' comps bugged, and I check in every so often." If that was a standard feature, Naoya was certain Atsuro would have found out about it by, oh, day three at the latest, since they'd surely found enough haywire comps lying around he would have had some to dissect. "If it's any consolation, I hadn't seen her in a week myself, after we moved past that stage of the project and I had to hurry to finish the server in time for the Shomonkai's convention in Tokyo. She might have been dead before the lockdown began." Before Gin's comp activated, before he got the strength to rescue her.

Right now, even dealing with this annoyance it was hard not to smirk. He'd been able to keep a straight face and his dignity in front of his little brother and those friends of his, who hadn't seen enough of the angels' cruelty to realize what a triumph this was, but he wanted to celebrate. He hadn't gotten drunk since three nights after the King of Bel, the demon his brother had become when his soul returned from the demon world, was assassinated by angels, the tower brought down and everyone suddenly started speaking gibberish. Even he couldn't understand a word of _any _of it, not those spoken aloud and not the scrolls in the libraries. He'd managed to rally the palace guards practically with gestures, create _some _kind of order in the palace at least and keep control over the granaries by force of presence and summoned demons, but the massive panic and confusion in the city had led to chaos that was quickly taken advantage of by thieves – so much for angels _reducing _the amount of sin in the world – which led to neighborhoods arming themselves and complete anarchy.

That third night, the castle chef had cooked up an amazing feast of delicacies, both food and drink, and in hindsight it was perfectly clear to Naoya that he'd done it so that he could demonstrate the techniques to his underlings, since none of them could read cookbooks or hear instructions anymore, so all the knowledge of crafts, devices and the natural sciences that couldn't be learned through imitation, and quickly, would die with the current generation. God had succeeded: it took humanity thousands of years to recover from the loss of the primal common tongue, and once it did he prepared to strike again.

Naoya gave the bartender an assessing look. "I could tell you why I did it this way, why it was better to let Tokyo be invaded than the world, why I had to worry more about the server than your lover, but you're not the type who cares about the big picture when your loved ones are at stake, are you?" Naoya smiled, or rather smirked, one that only deepened when he saw Gin's scowl. "I understand perfectly: neither am I. Tell you what: I'll let you 'beat the crap out of me,'" he said, holding up a hand to forestall Gin, "_after _I get that drink. And after my cousin and his allies retrieve Jikoku's sword from the Shomonkai and find a replacement guardian god so that they can seal the demons out of Tokyo. Also, the SDF is holding my cousin's parents hostage." Naoya kept playing with the empty glass, running his finger around the rim although it was too dry to have any sound coaxed out of as he thought.

"What? Getting rid of the demons is still possible?" When Haru's song wasn't complete and she didn't know if she'd ever be able to finish it?

"The Shomonkai broke the barrier protecting Tokyo by killing one of the Four Devas. They're hoping that the sword containing his power will work in his place, but it won't, not when they're going to have to establish it around a Bel demon and it was a Bel demon that killed Jikoku in the first place. They need a replacement for the missing deva." Naoya looked up at him, eyes narrowing. "You have a kishin-class that fits the bill, according to one of the e-mails you sent my cousin."

"You're reading his mail? You're all kinds of creepy, you know that?"

"God, Lucifer, the Bel demons, the SDF: they're all after my little brother," Naoya told him, gesturing with the glass for emphasis. "There's no such thing as overprotective, just protective _enough _and stuck with another dead body. You're angry and frustrated because the person you wanted to protect is dead and it's because you weren't good enough, didn't move fast enough?" Naoya _laughed _at that. "Welcome to my special hell. Now. I want to protect my little brother, you want to protect the city she loved. Get over to Eikokuji, tell the fou-three devas that Take-Mikazuchi and you both want to protect this country, and start learning that ritual so you're ready when my brother brings them Jikoku's sword. I'll guarantee the safety of your bar while you're gone, and Aya's apprentice if she shows up-" Right now, she was humanity's best hope of regaining the primal common tongue – Naoya hadn't known there was any hope of that until he'd found Aya, who had started learning it because of Haru's first song in the first place: who was this girl, who somehow knew what even Naoya had removed from his mind by God's curse upon humanity?

Well, that was for later. For now, he had won a great victory and he wanted to celebrate, even if there was no one to celebrate it with him. Even if without the memories contained in Babel, his brother wasn't himself, didn't remember why this was such a triumph.

Even if Naoya was still alone in carrying the burden of thousands of years of human history, human suffering.

"Don't say that name."

"What, Aya?"

Gin grabbed Naoya's haori. "Don't say that name unless you want to fight here and now."

Naoya considered saying something along the lines of, 'Get your hands off me, insect,' but he was in too good a mood to really care. Not to mention that he wasn't Loki and he didn't annoy people just for the fun of it. Well, not unless they really were asking for it. "You can do whatever you like to me, _after _you get back from saving Tokyo." He qualified that with, "Provided my little brother is still alive. If anything's happened to him, I'll have to take it out of someone's hide." And it had better not be Gin's.

"Your brother? I thought he was your cousin."

"Cousin, step-brother, brother: his parents took me in after mine died. The same parents that _are being held hostage by the SDF _to force him to turn himself in and be used as a scapegoat for other people's crimes and the government's weakness in bowing down to the angels," he said, to remind Gin that he wasn't the only one with grief or problems. "Of course, there's another reason I call him that, but I'm sure the three devas would be happy to tell you the version they heard of the whole sordid story." If Gin got moving and left Naoya here with his memories (and Gin's alcohol).

"How do I know you're not lying?" Gin demanded, black eyes glinting furiously.

"Because I don't, not unless I have to." And Gin wasn't enough of a threat to make him. "It runs in the family, like being a jerk," as he'd told Kazuya when Kazuya complained about Naoya setting him that test of Kazuya's strategic skills before giving them the information they wanted. Of course, telling the truth didn't require telling the _exact _truth, as angels demonstrated. Much less admitting the truth. "Either way, right now I could kill you without bothering to summon, and there's nothing you or your demons could do about it." Not when Naoya had taken the time on his walk here to restore some of the prohibitions against attacking certain people to Gin's comp, "but wait long enough, and I'll be too drunk to put up a fight, much less avoid you. I'll be here when you get back, waiting either for my brother to come here to tell you the good news and take you up on that offer of juice or for them to come here in search of help."

Gin shook his head. "You really have a brother complex," he said, and let go of Naoya.

Naoya grinned now, knowing it still looked evil and was at least half-smirk. "If you want to know the half of it, run along to Eikokuji. I have celebrating to do."

"Celebrating what?"

"The end of the lockdown, humanity's salvation and freedom," Naoya's smile just deepened, the happiness in his eyes growing more and more genuine. "This is the _best day of my lives_."

Lives? Gin noticed that word, looking at him askance. Yeah, all of Gin's instincts were screaming at him to at least get more intel before picking a fight with this guy. Naoya might look like he was carelessly sprawled over that barstool and Gin's bar, but there was no such thing as natural grace, not like _that_. If Naoya didn't know how to fight, well and viciously, Gin had forgotten everything he ever knew about how to read people, and as a former punk and a bartender he'd forgotten more than most shrinks would ever know, just for starters. The survival instincts that had kept Gin and his bar intact through the lockdown were screaming at him that picking a fight with Naoya would be about as smart as sticking his head into a shark's mouth: he'd only survive if the shark didn't give enough of a damn to bite down. Or, in Naoya's case, was just having too good a day to care about having his person and his custom haori manhandled by someone he could snap like a twig.

"Are you _high_?" Gin asked, and it was an honest question. He'd rarely seen people with joy like this bubbling just under the surface unless something had taken away all the pain that normally kept them weighed down.

"No, but I intend to get smashed. Even if an angel decides to disregard Metatron's command and fall just to kill me while I'm vulnerable as vengeance for defying God and ruining their chance to break humanity forever and destroy the competition for – Ha! – for God's 'love,' I'm too happy to care. I don't want to die or become a demon just when humanity's finally free, but it would so be worth it. It, everything has finally been worth it. Don't try to understand, and thank your lucky stars you're not going to," Naoya said, and still grinned.

"You _are _high," Gin concluded, but it was probably a natural one. Runners' high, battle high, the euphoria of going to a concert or giving a concert and pulling it off, or passing a nasty college entrance exam: he'd seen people come to his bar intending to celebrate already blissed out on whatever they were celebrating. Watching Naoya warily in case the young man lost that façade of relaxed cool calm and did anything like whoop and kiss Gin since he was the only person in range, Gin headed out.

* * *

_In Yuzu's 8__th__ Day, there's suddenly an announcement from Metatron that humanity no longer has to worry about the ordeals or being conquered by angels: for the first time in history they're free and no longer have to worry about _all _communication being stripped from them, or hordes descending and conquering them, or any of the other nasty possibilities talked about in the game. It was such win that honestly, I was expecting Naoya to lose his cool and do a touchdown dance or something, because aside from the fact his little brother is still missing the majority of his soul (scenes in Amane's and Naoya's eighth days explain this), this is what he has worked towards for thousands of years. I do wish Atlus had done this because it would have been hilarious to see Naoya go, "Woohoo!" etc. while everyone else is all serious and thinking about the implications and stuff, the way Naoya normally is._

_Instead he acts all sagely and lectures the others about responsibility and so on, which is… Surprising. Not quite OOC, but is he really that mature? Shouldn't he have rubbed Fushimi suddenly regretting getting exactly what he wished for in his face more? Shouldn't he have LOLd at people thinking this dream come true was a _bad _thing?_

_Well, he is an ancient sage, but he's also immature enough to be a troll and he loses his shit epically in some other routes, so it would have been nice as well as hilarious to see him go nuts from the happy instead of the pissed off while everyone else was all worrying about the implications of God abandoning them. Just… the contrast of everyone else having existential angst while normally-reserved Naoya is all, "Woohoo! Drinks are on me!" and acts something like a normal twenty-four-year-old…_

_Also, it's a pity that there's no route where Gin gets to confront Naoya. Of course, this might be because Naoya isn't an idiot and Gin is _pissed.


	2. Chapter 2

"Mmm, you know, you've got that same dangerous scent to you that he does," a young woman's voice said.

They heard a relaxed laugh, so different from his mocking laughter at Fushimi or his mad laughter at the angels it look Fushimi a moment to confirm that this was the voice of their target. "If I had a type, you wouldn't be it." His voice still wasn't as calm or contemptuous as one would have expected: it almost had the same hint of relaxed warmth there had been speaking to his cousin after Metatron's announcement. Perhaps he sounded even more relaxed now, with a sort of general goodwill Fushimi wouldn't have expected from him.

"I know, I know, and it's not nice to poach, anyway. But aren't you even a little jealous that I saw him first?" the young woman asked teasingly.

"After all the trouble he had to go to in order to rescue you all those times? No, you're too high-maintenance for me. Although what I would have done is give you a comp and forced you to accompany my brother. That way, both the targets the Bel demons were after would have been in one convenient place."

She laughed. "You've had _how _many shots and you can still think like that?"

"Practice." A chuckle this time. "It's amazingly similar to being sleep-deprived too, and I was already _that_. So worth it."

"Oh? From the way Atsuro described you, you were some kind of laid-back mastermind who had everything set up in advance, a real smooth operator."

"What's the saying about swans? Floating serenely along on the surface, paddling like hell underneath?" They both laughed. "No, it takes work to be this brilliant. People are people, they don't change, but like the Laplace Mail I need information to make predictions, and so much of the technology I've been creating is absolutely unprecedented," and he did say so himself. "No wonder Yuzu was surprised to find me at my apartment: I've been going back there and to the warded area I set up in the contaminated zone to sleep, but I certainly haven't been doing much of that since this started."

Fushimi ground his teeth. The man responsible for the demon summoning program, and he'd been going _home_ this entire time? If only they'd been able to get a team in to stake out even such an obvious location! Of course, he might have been counting on the fact they weren't able to, that the SDF was so helpless without comps, mere bystanders in the game he and the Shomonkai were playing with the Bel demons and the angels. And the lives of Tokyo's citizens, and the fate of the world. Still, at least the bastard hadn't been taking it as lightly as he pretended.

Still, he didn't need to hear any more of this. They'd verified the presence of the target: Naoya Minegeshi, creator of the summoning program. He had to go on trial alongside the leader of the Shomonkai, and like Amane Kuzuryu, who knew how to summon a demon inside herself to use its powers, according to Izuna's report, he had to be neutralized. According to the member of the Shomonkai's programming team who had turned himself in to provide information, Naoya was the only one who truly understood the process. Even if he handed over his comp he could build another one, and who knew what else he was capable of?

Especially given how the angels had talked about him and how he'd talked back to them. As though they had a history. And Naoya's reaction to Metatron's declaration? The way he'd reminded Fushimi that it was just what he'd tried to get earlier, for the angels to leave them alone instead of taking over his country? Was that really what he and the Shomonkai had been fighting for all this time?

He'd wished he had the man responsible for this in front of him early in the Lockdown, and once he'd tracked him down? Naoya had acted just like he'd thought, seemingly heedless of the suffering of all the normal people caught up in his plans, an arrogant bastard who just didn't care about those 'insects.'

But weren't suffering and death inevitable in war? Wasn't that the reason for the Lockdown, because better Tokyo than let all of Japan be caught up in the war the Shomonkai had unleashed on their world? But had the war for the Throne of Bel just been a sideshow, Belberith trying to acquire the power that would let him fight the true enemy? And if Naoya truly didn't care about the innocent bystanders, then why did the harmonizer protect them even though that drained the comps' battery faster? Even though that protection extended even to enemy humans, and sending human troops against Nikaido had drained his battery far faster than having him fight angels, the comp even strengthening the user's human _enemies?_

"So, Mister Psychic, how long will it take everyone to get here? If we had ice, it would be melting."

"Ah, that entirely depends on one factor: will a certain government dog help them negotiate with the government to release their families in exchange for defeating Belberith and letting them get at Shomonkai scapegoats, or will leave dealing with the Diet to others and stay on my tail? Kazuya won't let the devas try to set up the barrier until Belberith is dead: with as much of the power of Bel as Belberith already possesses, there's too much risk he'd find a way to break the barrier from the inside. Even without a Bel's memories, he's reabsorbed enough of his soul that he should know that much about the power of Bel…"

"Enough of his soul?"

"The one part of this victory that isn't complete. To freedom." Glass clinked against glass. "I don't even know if he'll absorb Belberith or if he has enough control to let those pieces return to the demon world along with that damn Jezebel. She must be his other lower rib…"

"Lower rib?"

"Long story."

"Well, looks like we've got time."

"Not really all that much. If we did, I'd be taking this opportunity for a little sleep. If I wasn't too excited to sleep." Honest joy in his voice. "If the negotiations were expedited, your big brother figure will be coming home soon as well as my little brother and his friends, and I doubt he'd be too happy to see you sprawled out on my lap. If they weren't… let's see… I'm a little surprised they haven't blown up the door with C4 or something ridiculous like that by now. Even though _it's unlocked_," Naoya said, raising his voice. (Actually just in case, but neither Haru nor Fushimi knew that.)

Scowling again in frustration, element of surprise lost if they'd ever had it, Fushimi curtly gestured for the demolitions tech of this team to remove the bomb and just open the damn door, hoping _it _wasn't wired to explode or unleash demons on them.

It was almost more of an insult when nothing happened: had Fushimi been hoping for a firefight, even with what might be a civilian in there? He knew he wanted to shoot the bastard, or smash his face in, pound him into the ground so he understood the suffering of the people trapped in this lockdown and the powerlessness of those who couldn't help them, but he had his duty and his discipline.

Even though demons could take human form and humans could become demons. With his powers, it would be easy to justify it if Naoya Minegeshi was shot trying to escape: well, that was why Fushimi had brought in a reserve team, one that hadn't seen most of the horror of the lockdown, one that hadn't been forced to shoot innocent Japanese civilians just trying to escape the madness.

"You _are _good," the young lady Fushimi identified as the singer Haru said as two of Fushimi's men entered first, scanning the area with guns ready, followed by the Captain.

"I ought to be, after this many years," the red-eyed hacker answered, not bothering to move as more troops swarmed in.

Haru didn't either, remaining just where she'd said she was, perched on Naoya's lap despite all the guns pointed in his direction. Or maybe, given the look in her eyes, because of all the guns pointed in his direction. Despite Naoya Minegeshi's complicity in the death of her teacher, she wasn't going to just let someone get shot. "Hey, mind the furniture: Gin just had these reupholstered," she said, pointing to the leather seats of the booth Naoya was lying on.

Or maybe she didn't want her friend's bar shot up.

Turning his head to the side to look at them, the sorcerer informed them that, "I have decided that I will let you capture me if you have a drink with me first."

"What?" Fushimi demanded.

"A drink. To celebrate. The end of the lockdown, the eviction of the angels who used that opportunity to take over the world and try to eliminate the free will that was why God favored us over them in the beginning, the end of the fear of humanity being stripped of all ability to communicate and the deaths by starvation and violence of billions who were reliant on the global economy or simply not able to produce their own food without relying on others – what percentage of Japan's population do you think knows how to run a farm without anyone's help or being able to read guidebooks? – and… a lot of other stuff, but my brother's still alive. He is, right?" Eyes that were more than a little unfocused despite Naoya's barely-slurred speech focused on him. "And you won't try to pin the blame for this on him if I go with you?"

"Provided he defeats Belberith and brings in the head of the Shomonkai, the government has already agreed to drop all charges." They force assaulting the Hills Building had led Kazuya and his companions to him earlier: Fushimi had halted temporarily instead of letting that young man figure out that they were on a manhunt for his brother. It would have distracted him, and Fushimi couldn't risk the powerful demon tamer deciding to do something about it.

Naoya laughed with honest pride and affection: no need to worry. "He'll manage those. The head of the Shomonkai is very dedicated to humanity's cause: he'll want the country's stability restored as soon as possible so the innocents can get out of the lockdown and we can focus on eliminating the remaining demons. Kind of Loki to let my brother take care of him yesterday…" Naoya looked thoughtfully down at his shot glass. "It's empty," he told Haru plaintively.

"I'm only giving you the good stuff because you're Kazuya's brother," Haru reminded him, pouring him another shot. "And this way, you'll be absolutely miserable in the morning."

Naoya knocked back the shot and held his glass out for another. "Drink up, it's all on me. Either way, I won't need yen where I'm going. The yen-macca exchange rate went through the roof when the Shomonkai started up: they're always happy to milk religious."

"How the hell are you still conscious?" Haru asked him as she poured.

"Didn't you see how much Loki could put away?"

"Loki?"

"The gigolo in the purple suit."

"Oh, him. I thought you weren't a demon."

"I'm not. I'm still one half- three-fourths… Let's say two-thirds divine, like that bastard Gilgamesh. I can think with my soul." Naoya _giggled_. There was no other word to describe it. "I'll be mostly lucid until I pass out. Just don't ask me to walk straight."

"Which god?"

"That one." Naoya waved at the sky with the hand holding the glass: alcohol sloshed over the sides and he didn't even seem to notice. "The big bastard in the sky who likes having my little brother murdered. I said it ran in the family." He started to count with the fingers on his other hand. "Beldr, Belial, hopefully Beelzebub, although I can't count on it, and all the ones Belberith absorbed… That's at least two pieces of Abel's soul back, perhaps all except one piece. Well, two, counting you, but I don't even know if you can be reattached."

"What?" Haru said, startled. "I'm a- They were coming after me, but- You're kidding, right?"

"I know a piece of my own brother's soul when it's been sitting on me to keep me from escaping Gin's wrath for hours. Don't worry, you're not one of the pieces that got separated when those bastard angels killed him again, so you must have been the part in the rib. He'll be fine without you, I know I haven't missed that bit of me."

"If he weren't the same way, you missing part of your soul would explain so much," Haru told him, joking a little but mostly looking surprised and a little happy.

Naoya laughed. "Don't think he's the nice one in the family: wait until he starts cutting helpless little lambs and bunny rabbits so they bleed to death in front of you. Although you're probably not into that the way God is." He tried to pat her on the head and seemed oblivious to the fact his arm wasn't long enough. "I don't think he's done that in this life, although they did have a hamster that died before I came to live with them. Maybe I should have asked how." Noticing Fushimi's men again (and still ignoring their guns) he said, "Well? Drink up. This is supposed to be a celebration. Just avoid the drinks at the bar, those are for my brother and his friends."

"A celebration? Of God forsaking humanity?" Fushimi looked at the bar. "What's that red one?"

"Tomato juice," Haru told him. "The weird green one is this energy drink Otakuro likes. He brought those from his apartment."

"Atsuro," Naoya corrected her. "That's just what Yuzu calls him."

"She's my fan, so as long as he's calling her Yoohoo, I'm calling him Otakuro," Haru explained.

"Fair enough." Naoya raised his glass a little too quickly. "To freedom!"

"To freedom!" Haru chorused as Naoya was barely able to take a sip from his shot glass.

"Where did the gin go?" he asked her, confused.

"To Eikokuji, or that's what you told me," Haru said with a smirk that said she was being deliberately confusing.

"Ah, yes." Naoya saluted her with the empty glass. "Another!"

"After this, we're going to need another bottle," Haru said as she poured, glancing over at the pile of empty bottles on the bar by where Naoya had left his credit cards. Most of those had gone into the glasses the soldiers were ignoring, but it wasn't her problem if Naoya's money got wasted. If the soldiers didn't drink it, her fans would when they came by in the evening, when the bar was supposed to open.

"Not a problem. Numbered Swiss accounts: never has it been so easy to take it with you."

"Play the stock market, Mister Psychic?"

"When I don't want to think. Most of it's patents."

"We're on duty," Fushimi interrupted their wandering banter. "We won't be drinking, and you'll be coming with us."

Naoya held up his comp. "Want to know how many comps will go haywire if I press this button?"

"You bastard…" Fushimi scowled.

"Come on, it's just a drink. You can pick your own glass, and I'll promise you that none of them contain any poison besides the obvious. Haru here did most of the pouring."

"Because watching you bustle around wiping down tables and pouring glasses while humming happily to yourself was damn creepy," Haru said, sitting up a little straighter and trying to get comfortable on his thighs. Guy was in great shape, so at least he wasn't bony, but there wasn't a lot of padding on him. Not that most people hadn't lost some of theirs in the lockdown.

"I've spent… I can't think how much time waiting tables. There aren't that many jobs in preindustrial societies when you can't farm and don't like hunting unless you have a craft or are someone's servant. And I can't help being creepy, it's the eyes. Blame God."

"No," the redhead said, raising her eyebrows. "It's a lot more than that." Naoya hadn't figured that out by now? "Sorry to break it to you, but you're just naturally creepy. And the brother complex doesn't help."

"I wonder if my brother will show up if these government dogs take long enough to have their drinks," Naoya wondered.

Fushimi glared, recognizing the casual statement as a threat. He didn't think Kazuya would attack humans if he promised Naoya a fairer trial than Kazuya would have gotten without the head of the Shomonkai, but he certainly hadn't hesitated to attack angels, or the SDF troops attacking Midori and Kaido, when from what Fushimi understood he hadn't known them before the lockdown. Blood was thicker than water, as they said. "Alright, men, I'll go first." A taste identified the glass he'd picked up as whiskey: a bigger sip, still cautious, proved it was good whiskey. He didn't let that change his expression of disapproval as he emptied the glass.

"There now, was that so bad? Drinks are on me for the whole evening," Naoya told Haru with sudden generosity, because why not?

She chuckled, voice low and sexy in a way that drew attention to her disheveled top that seemed in constant danger of having a wardrobe malfunction. Naoya's hair was also rather mussed up, and that careless sprawl: he was a handsome young man despite his inhuman eyes, Fushimi had to admit that. It would be easy to imagine that the two of them had done more than lie on that bench. "Oh, they would have been anyway." When he'd left his credit cards and owed the people trapped inside the lockdown a hell of a lot more than that.

"Commander?" One of Fushimi's soldiers asked him.

"Do as he said." One drink wouldn't impair them too much, and Fushimi kept his own gun trained on the hacker. "Now hand over the comp."

Naoya passed it up to Haru first. "Mind giving this to the nice doggy? Oh: Zero."

"What?" Fushimi said, startled and outraged, although he could already guess the question that was the answer to.

"How many comps will go berserk," Naoya confirmed, grinning as Haru got up to hand Fushimi the purple comp. "The barrier's already up, and I'm sure the server won't respond. Too busy sulking about how it will have to wait who knows how many centuries to be complete again."

"So the demon summoning program is useless now?"

"You still have to worry about demons that were already here, and more powerful ones who already have contracts. Not to mention the skill crack function," Naoya reminded him. "But I already told the auction to cut off its connection to the server." Not unless they wanted to risk being backtraced: the other summoners on Earth didn't want to be discovered.

"So no new demons, and no new comp activations?" That was something, at least. "Alright, now stand up."

Naoya twisted around until his feet were on the ground, but when it came time for his upper body to sit up, "I… may need a little help with that." He was still grinning, and Fushimi wanted to wipe that smile off his face even though it wasn't a smirk, it was a smile, so happy at what had transpired today that even being roughly forced to his feet and into handcuffs while his head was spinning couldn't dim his joy.

* * *

_So that's why Naoya's letting Haru in his personal space and letting her take advantage of him in this chapter: she's a part of his brother, made from his rib, in the way Eve was made from Adam. _

_Yuzu's Seventh Day, Amane's Eighth and this one conversation in Naoya's Eighth where he's talking about how glad he is that Abel's been there all those years really do show that Abel is Naoya's anchor and the thing he cares about the most, more than spiting God. If you think about the whole discussion about Naoya's redemption in Amane's Eighth, the real issue isn't that Naoya refuses to accept responsibility for Abel's death (he says that Abel should hate him for it on Amane's Seventh) but he's trying to get revenge on God for _Abel_, not just for himself. After all, the pain of endless lives and witnessing the brutality of history wouldn't have hit him until he'd been around for several lives, and vengeance was probably why he did that. So he feels that he's been fighting this entirely unappreciated crusade all this time, and while Abel probably was fighting alongside him when he was King of Bel, a lot of the time all Naoya would have had is a kid who doesn't understand anything and angels telling Naoya how horrible he is and such. _

_There are insects, bastards, the occasional person who's enough of a genius to be worth talking to like Atsuro & Abel, really. _


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey!" Someone called, running towards Fushimi's men after he'd ordered them to head out and head for the nearest exit of the lockdown. "Where do you think you're going?"

The black-haired man dressed in a suit that was mostly clean and intact despite the seven-day lockdown ignored the guns trained on him: he was obviously a demon tamer, because who else would carry a huge sword through the streets of Tokyo? Unless he was a demon himself.

"Halt!" One of Fushimi's men ordered him.

"You gave your word that I could give you some payback!" the man insisted.

Naoya staggered a little, then waved at the armed guards. Then he remembered something, went, "Right," and phased out of the handcuffs, in front of the man. Then he vanished again and reappeared with an open bottle of something that he drank from even as he swayed on his feet.

Dammit! Fushimi thought. This out of it and he was still capable of something like that? Well, tactically when someone was nearly incapacitated was the moment when they would most need an escape route.

The man looked at Naoya like wow, really? "Put down the bottle so it won't break."

Naoya held up a hand asking for a moment to finish the bottle. When he lowered it, tossing it with barely any force onto a grassy area by the side of the street, he was smiling, genuinely happy with the entire world, including happy that Gin had made it.

Gin attempted to remove that smile with his fists.

Even though his reactions were clumsy and delayed, it was clear from the fact that Naoya stayed on his feet that he was good, _very _good, and would have automatically taken Gin apart if he hadn't been holding back. That smile didn't falter and he was close to laughing, which was incredibly creepy and made Gin wonder if he was a masochist or something, or was he just so damn high on endorphins that he was barely feeling it?

Gin stopped when Naoya raised a hand to his mouth and spat out a tooth. The programmer looked down at it, then up at Gin. "None of yours are falling out are they? Seven, I mean."

"If they do, you're paying for the implants, _Cain_," Gin said, readying his fists again. So this whole thing was some kind of experiment, to see if Gin got hit with divine retribution? "The Devas warned me about what you are, and I still want my payback."

"And you've still got all your teeth," Cain said as Fushimi cursed himself for not putting it together earlier. He should have after what the angels had said, forget what was said in the bar, but when Kazuya so clearly cared for Naoya, and vice versa? "Yes!" Cain rejoiced. "He really isn't watching us all the time anymore, we're finally free, yes!" He staggered forward and a combination of surprise and quickness let him fling his arms around Gin, even though he was slightly off-target. "This is _the best day of my lives_," he said, and laughed with pure delight.

"Uh..?" Gin said, more uncomfortable with being hugged than with all the men with guns pointed at him.

"I'm free, we're free, my brother is still missing more than half his soul but he's _alive_ and we're finally free!" Gin was squeezed by haori-clad arms.

Gin's eyes narrowed, just getting angrier. "Uh, so if I _strangle you to death_ you won't come back?"

"Oh, I'll come _back _either way, Aunt Lily will break me out of hell if I need it, but I don't want to stop being human just when humanity's finally free!" Naoya still hadn't let go of the older bartender, and was still too much of a happy drunk to feel any fear or even basic self-preservation, anything but his triumph and rejoicing.

"So get the fuck off me before I fucking kill you," Gin said succinctly, with language he hadn't used since his punk days.

"Aww, but I gave you a comp in case you needed to rescue her." He might have been pouting if he wasn't smiling. "One that would let you take on Azuma and even Kuzuryu." Naoya nosed at his cheek to punctuate that statement, warm breath and surprisingly soft lips.

Gin shoved him away hard, utter rejection, his face shutting down.

Fushima had hurriedly signaled for his men not to shoot when Naoya disappeared from the cuffs. Even if he wasn't a demon that could take human form, or possessed by one like Miss Kuzuryu had been, restraining him might be difficult. If only he'd thought to bring tranquilizer darts... Who knew what powers a Biblical character might have? If Cain, like Belberith, gained power the more people believed in his existence?

Naoya went spinning away, staying on his feet for a few steps before falling to the pavement, still taking the fall with reflex ingrained over who knew how many lives even though he was definitely drunk. He didn't move, but lay there laughing with the sleeves of his haori fanned out like wings he'd programmed himself, looking up at the sky and laughing softly to himself, happily, seeming to have forgotten all about the insect named Gin. Like this, it was impossible not to notice that he was beautiful. To those who had survived the Lockdown and seen the angels of the Lord, it was impossible not to realize the similarity between the beauty he possessed and the transcendent beauty they did. The power and majesty of those touched by God, of someone who could call God his grandfather? The aura of the divine?

Would earth ever again be graced by the presence of a being like this? Beautiful and terrible, proud and cruel. Perhaps they were better off without the angels, but the fact remained that Naoya was a criminal and would be tried like one. As the Japanese citizen Naoya Minegeshi, by the laws of man, instead of as Cain for crimes whose limitations had expired millennia ago, that predated all of Japan's laws and the country itself.

Gin broke the silence, if he'd even noticed it, angrily asking, "Can't you even wince?"

"Tomorrow I will. I forgot to keep track of the proof of what I was drinking." Naoya laughed at himself, still without any malice or rancor. "I wonder if someone will figure out how to get the common tongue back? Maybe that Haru of his..."

Gin dropped to one knee over him to _strangle _him.

For several seconds Naoya lay there, limp and unresisting, and what sort of ingrained control did it have to take to not even struggle? Then he phased out under Gin's hands, rolling to the side and catching his breath when he was solid again, blood on the hand that covered his mouth as he gasped from the broken tooth. "Only my brother... is allowed to murder me." As opposed to death in battle: this wasn't a battle when Naoya wasn't fighting back.

"You don't get to mention Haru," Gin said, low and dangerous.

"I'm fairly certain they're soulmates." There, he hadn't said the name.

Gin glared, but Naoya wasn't even looking at him, looking up at the sky again. "Brother..." His smile was soft and his voice affectionate.

Gin spat, knelt, and stole his wallet to pay for everything he drank, unaware Haru had already relieved Naoya of his cash and credit cards. "Get him out of my sight."

Naoya's eyes had slipped shut: he didn't resist when the cuffs were placed back on and it didn't take long to verify that he had passed out. Fushimi made a note to call for a medic: he was their prisoner, after all. He may have violated the terms once already by trying to escape, slipping out of his cuffs even though he'd promised to surrender, but he had been drunk enough at the time that probably hadn't registered and he certainly hadn't tried to run from any punishment. Once he was in his right mind? They might have to keep him sedated.

And have him checked for alcohol poisoning, once they were past the lockdown and somewhere an ambulance could get to in order to take him to a hospital. Not stopping until he passed out: Fushimi had seen men like that. It wasn't normal alcoholism, they didn't crave it constantly, but they couldn't stop at a sane amount of drinks and wouldn't let anyone else stop them, either, until they wound up passed out somewhere. It might just be that Naoya had taken the brakes off, since the lockdown was nearly over and at this point his health was Fushimi's responsibility – perhaps he'd planned to get alcohol poisoning and evade justice that way – but someone who could stay lucid and keep from passing out longer than others could get more of that poison into their system before they crashed. Better ability to hold your liquor wasn't always a good thing. It could be a fatal one.

It looked like Fushimi had guessed right: after taking his pulse the medic was already putting an IV into him as this 'Gin' closed the door to his bar behind him with more force than necessary. Fushimi made a call to his superiors to confirm that he'd captured the criminal behind the demon summoning program while the medic did his job.

So many Japanese citizens hadn't had the benefit of this kind of care: the hospitals inside Tokyo and their patients had suffered from lack of supplies, electricity, water and air conditioning. He'd almost rather have fought to capture Naoya, even if that might have cost the lives of too many of his men. He'd certainly rather have bloodied that too-perfect face himself, rather have led him roughly through the streets instead of – yes, at this point it looked like they would be carrying him on a stretcher.

Damn _bastard._

If he didn't have to live to stand trial… And what would he extort out of them to make him stay still for long enough, if they didn't sedate him when all sedation risked killing the patient. Or would that be such a bad thing? Or brain damage, reducing the potential of that dangerous mind that had already caused the deaths of so many of this country's people?

Would they have to keep holding citizens of their own country hostage to ensure his compliance? Even his brother, the hero responsible for saving the country and what was left of Tokyo: they'd need him and his friends to help them clean up the remaining demons, but if his comp was sabotaged and deactivated at the wrong time, leaving him unprotected by a harmonizer & without his skills in the middle of a pack of demons?

Fushimi hated that he still had to think in these terms, even after the lockdown was all over bar the cleanup, even about a hero. Damn this man: if Amaterasu could be a demon, why wasn't he? As much as they needed to show the Japanese people that those truly responsible had been brought to justice, Fushimi wished he could just shoot him.

At least the young hero of the Lockdown might be safe: Naoya could claim that as the Biblical Cain, all his affection for his brother was obviously feigned. Fushimi could imagine the contemptuous voice that had addressed him and the angels saying, "Go ahead: murder him _for _me," as he smiled that poisonous smile.

Fushimi's men had barely made it half a block before they heard someone say, "Hey, it's Commander Fushimi!" He turned to see Atsuro Kihara, Kazuya Minegeshi (strange that the hero responsible for them making it out of the lockdown without using the final option was the cousin of one of those responsible, or was it? When Naoya had given them special comps?) and the other demon tamers in their group running towards him, trailed by the hapless soldier assigned to escort them.

"Naoya!" Kazuya realized sooner than Fushimi would have liked, and perhaps it was his – no, it was definitely his fault for not having a blanket wrapped around the man on the stretcher, obscuring that distinctive hair and custom haori.

"What happened?" Atsuro asked him as Kazuya ran past to go to the side of his brother. Fushimi had already signaled to his men to keep moving.

"He went to a bar belonging to a man known by the name 'Gin' and drank until he passed out." So no, Fushimi hadn't hurt the dangerous tamer's cousin/older brother, whatever the reality of that relationship was.

"Seriously?" Nikaido asked, delighted. "Man, guess he's human after all."

"That's not setting a very good example," a woman walking next to Nikaido commented.

"Oh, this is Miss Mari, she's a school nurse," Atsuro introduced her. "You wanted to know what other tamers you could trust to handle clean-up, so we went to go get her and tell her it was over. Oh," he realized, "Gin's a tamer too, even though he doesn't use it much: he's contracted to Take-Mikazuchi, who took Jikoku's place in the barrier. It might not be a good idea to take away his comp until we can ask the devas if he needs to keep it for anything. It was Gin that performed the actual ritual to restore the barrier, not Take-Mikazuchi."

"I'll pass that along," Fushimi told them.

"Prayer," Kazuya said, and it took Fushimi an instant to realize that he was using one of those skill crack abilities, not saying that they needed Gin to keep praying to maintain the barrier, like a miko.

"Did that work?" Atsuro asked, hurrying over. "I hope we can find some way to keep the healing skills around, they really saved us a lot of times."

"He's breathing a little easier," Kazuya said, and reached out to touch Naoya's hair. "He looks really tired: it's hard to notice that when he's awake, because of his eyes." He looked up the procession at Fushimi. "What's going to happen to him?"

"Well, he'll have to stand trial."

Kazuya nodded, which was something of a relief. "Can I go with him? And could you bring our-my parents to us there?"

"Wow, you're right about him looking tired," Atsuro realized. "How'd that happen in only a few hours?"

For an answer, Kazuya licked his finger and rubbed under one of Naoya's eyes. "Make-up: looks like someone removed most of it. Remember when we played dress-up?"

"Oh, right. You remember, Yoohoo?"

"Don't call me Yoohoo," she said with a stubborn refusal to give up but little actual anger, this time. "And I wonder if _that_ was why he was so good at making me look like an Egyptian Queen and you guys like Oni or whatever."

"By that," Commander Fushimi asked, "Do you mean what the angels and Gin said about him?"

The three of them, the core group of Kazuya and his two friends looked at each other. "If you mean why he knew the head of the Shomonkai was right about preventing the Ordeal," Kazuya said carefully, "Yeah." Atsuro had figured it out first, on the way back down the Hills building. "But that's… He's not a bad guy. It's my fault, really, that he did all this to protect me. If the Bel demons had started coming after what was left of my soul, and there wasn't a lockdown to keep them in Tokyo, and I didn't have a comp… And he'd already moved out, so what was he supposed to tell our parents if he moved back in to protect me?" Kazuya kicked at a stray piece of rubble, looking down at his feet. "It would have been really easy for them to kill me, and a whole lot of other people while they looking for me, and then they would have taken over the world or the angels would have if Naoya hadn't worked with the Shomonkai. He helped us escape from the lockdown even though that wrecked all his plans other than keeping me alive, so I know that's the most important thing to him. So I can't let him get in trouble for stuff that he did to protect me, not without taking my share of the blame," Kazuya said, lifting his chin up and looking Fushimi right in the eyes seriously.

"What was… Left of your soul?" Fushimi asked him.

"Abel," Atsuro explained. "A-Bel. Loki said that the Bels were all pieces of a single god that ruled earth and the underworld until YHVH shattered it into pieces. If you think about what Amane said Remiel said, that the soul of Abel was also divided like that, then the King who constructed the King's Gate, Babel, and the mind the server contains, must have been Abel. Information from two independent sources is pretty trustworthy, I guess, even if both of them weren't exactly on our side. I mean, that would have been Cain's brother Abel, not, or not just, our Abel. In hindsight, it's pretty clear Naoya must have been the one to give him that nickname."

"I must have been angry with God, not Cain, to try to keep him out of earth," Kazuya, Abel, said. "I don't think it was Naoya's fault to begin with, although I think he thinks it was." He put his hand on his brother's head again. "If you're trying Amane too…" He grimaced, because it was fair. Naoya had made the program. "I want to be called as a witness." So he could have a chance to speak for him.

"What about bail?" Atsuro asked.

"Bail?" Fushimi stared at him. Was there that much money in the world?

"Come on, you'd have a hard time keeping him from getting out if he wanted to anyways. This is Naoya we're talking about," Atsuro said, smiling.

"You're Naoya's apprentice, aren't you." Fushimi frowned.

Atsuro held up his hands to ward him off. "Whoa, just in programming! I don't know anything about demon summoning. But I do know Naoya, and he's a genius."

"If the trial is going to be public, then he couldn't stay with us afterwards anyways," Kazuya knew. "I bet he might stay around long enough to argue his case," because it would amuse him, and humans needed to accept that God was gone and they should take responsibility for their own lives now: Naoya had always tried to teach him that. "But he can't really clear his name, not when so many people lost members of their own families." They'd want someone to take it out on, and wasn't the entire reason the government was doing this to deflect blame from themselves? It was really the angels and God at fault, but as Shoji had demonstrated using Yuzu, people wouldn't want to believe that.

"Like Honda, after his son died," Yuzu realized. "You won't have to go into witness protection, will you? Because you're his cousin?"

"…Maybe that's why he wouldn't want people to think he cares." But Kazuya didn't let go of Naoya. "Gin's the one who punched him, isn't he," he realized. "It wasn't your guys." He didn't think so: brutality wasn't Fushimi's style. Abel sighed. "Naoya probably deserved that." And he couldn't get revenge on Gin, Haru and Yuzu liked him, not to mention the seal.

* * *

_Fushimi really should be counted as one of the most heroic people in Devil Survivor, like that one cop. Ordinary man doing the best he can, trying to do what's right despite all these difficulties that corrupt others and expose the corruption of his government. _

_In Naoya's Seventh, when Naoya introduces himself as the creator of the program, Fushimi is all, 'Ah, yes, you, the one responsible for all this,' and clearly wishes, like Gin, that he could beat the crap out of the bastard (only to avenge the people of Tokyo, not his girlfriend), but that would be police brutality (a low that other police and SDF officers have sunk to, but not him). And he still does the right thing and puts himself on the line even though he hates Naoya, because it is the right thing._

_That's pretty Vimes. _


	4. Chapter 4

"Is he going to die?" a young girl's voice asked on the edge of Naoya's hearing.

Abel sighed, sounding frustrated. "No."

"But I wanted him to be my friend." After raising his little brother so many times, Naoya could _hear _pouting.

"People actually make better friends if they're not zombies," Abel tried to explain, trying not to sound too annoyed with this girl.

Zombies now? They were disgustingly trendy, but what was this about making friends with them? Naoya made something of an effort to speak but all he could make was a, "Hnn?" sound.

"Naoya!" He felt hands that had to be Kazuya's grab one of his: from the smell of this place, he was in a hospital bed. Although was that… Yes, it was the smell of gunpowder. So he was under guard.

"Bless," the girl said, as though she was saying a word much worse than damn. "He's waking up." So he might live and not become her new friend. "I wanted a new uncle."

"Hnn?" Naoya managed to say again, before yawning.

"This is Alice," Kazuya explained. "Remember Belial? I also fought this demon called Nebrios that I think Lucifer sent… Anyway, Nebrios showed up with her and said that the two of them adopted her, and since Belial was a part of me now I had to watch her at least every other weekend. She calls both of them her uncles, and since you're my brother that would make you her uncle too. She's a ghost, or she was," she was a very powerful demon now, "so all her friends were zombies. No, I'm not killing him for you, Alice."

"You're, you're not my real uncle!" The girl stamped her foot on the ground and said, "I hate you!" Naoya felt her vanish in a huff.

Maybe it was a good thing Kazuya probably hadn't gotten Beelzebub this round, Naoya thought muzzily, or Lucifer might have come demanding his secretary and chief flunky back. Of course, Lucifer was probably too busy partying to care. Naoya hadn't managed to find anyone to celebrate with except Haru, and she'd mostly amused herself getting him drunk and anticipating his future pain and Gin's return. Such a cruel woman, just like his brother.

"Can you open your eyes?" Abel asked him.

Naoya shook his head just a bit after trying for a moment. "My eyelids are heavy. They've been keeping me drugged, haven't they. Something new, since 1943 anyway. I need to look into medicine again, it's hard to keep current in so many fields at once these days…" Another yawn.

"Why 1943?" Abel asked him. "Were you a doctor?"

Ha. That took money he hadn't had a chance to get his hands on at the time. "Austrian resistance. Good thing I'd worked out how to make colored contacts a few centuries ago…" Otherwise he would have been in trouble just for seeming to be an albino, forget his hatred of any sort of superior race ideology after millennia of Jews talking about how they were God's chosen people as though that was anything to be proud of. Talking about a thousand-year kingdom of law had made him suspicious the angels were involved, so he'd dug up some old recipes, like those for Greek Fire. "I'm not sure what kind of relatives we were back then. I'd gotten put on an orphanage doorstep, either because of the eyes or because someone had a vision and I didn't find you until years later when you were being herded onto a train with a lot of other miscellaneous undesirables. Your family was probably dead and you didn't want to talk about them even when you started talking again."

Naoya's shoulders itched suddenly, and it took all his focus to rub them against the back of the bed a bit, trying to get rid of it. "Someone tried interrogation chemicals on me after I'd used myself as bait, since their spells were obviously failures. For future reference, unicorn horns purify the air around them as well as any liquids they're immersed in." So if you had a probably-gypsy boy to look after who would be sent to the gas chambers right away if captured, since he was too young to be useful slave labor, sewing a unicorn summoning circle into a handkerchief for him to hold over his mouth and setting it to draw power from nearby death-by-poison and the desperate wish for salvation was a good way to have him busted out if you were otherwise occupied keeping a sorcerer too busy to notice his perimeter wards blowing up. Especially a unicorn that knew recarm and could send bullets right back to those who fired them.

"Using yourself as bait, like when we broke out of the lockdown." Abel sighed and Naoya felt the mattress shift a little as Abel sat down at the edge of the bed.

Naoya smiled. "You can complain about me taking the more dangerous parts when you're stronger than I am again." Until then, Naoya would do what he could, even though he couldn't visit the demon world, or… So much else Abel had been able to do.

"Like when I was the King of Bel, right?"

Oh. Yes. Naoya's brain really was still very slowed down. "So you've put that together," he said, pulling Abel down so the top of his brother's head was under his neck. Yet it still felt like too much effort to open his eyes. The fact that someone had raised the head of this bed (more proof this was a hospital bed) helped make it comfortable. "I shouldn't be surprised, after you found out about the song." Gathered so much information so fast. "Of course you had Atsuro to help you, but he's good with search engines and databases, not people and legwork."

"Naoya?" Abel asked as Naoya breathed in the scent of little brother, with no trace of blood or illness, just soap and a recent shower.

"What is it?"

"Why did you let yourself get captured?" Why hadn't he just vanished somewhere he'd be safe even if Abel didn't ever get to see him again.

"Abel-Kazuya," Naoya said, "Do you remember what I told you after Metatron left about taking responsibility?"

"That it would be a good world if we did?" Something like that. There had been a lot of other stuff going on.

"This is our world now, humanity's world, the way it was supposed to be," Naoya told him. "We can't get complacent: you threw the angels out before, but this time they'd hopefully have to sacrifice their pride to come back, although Enoch is too damn good at finding ways to weasel out of…" Naoya tried to make a fist, but his fingers still had that 'just woke up' weakness. "It's ours, we have free will, so we are the only ones responsible for our actions. But that still doesn't mean we don't have to _take _responsibility. It's because the three of you returned to the Lockdown to take responsibility for your actions that we have this chance. I'm probably looking at a life sentence, but that's a small enough price to pay for actions that freed this world." And kept you alive. "And you can come visit me, so what's wrong? Won't you prefer that to having me on the run, never seeing me again?"

"I guess, but…" Abel clasped the hand that was hugging him to Naoya in his own. "I was going to move in with you when I started college."

"So? This way, there'll be room for you and Atsuro." The building was still fairly intact: thanks to his wards there hadn't been any demon attacks there aside from what happened to that punk kid who had 'stolen' one of Naoya's comps on the day he'd summoned his little brother and his friends to Tokyo. "There's a trust fund set up that will more than cover the rent and utilities, and I already set up all of that to be paid automatically." Since Naoya couldn't be bothered. "Oh, did you get your drinks?"

"Yeah, Haru made sure we did. Atsuro got so wired." Kazuya and Naoya both grinned: they knew Atsuro and Naoya could just picture it.

"Once I'm allowed up and about, I'll see what I can do about throwing a proper party for all of you," Naoya promised, finally opening his eyes enough to see Abel's distinctive hair and those headphones of his. "I've run background checks, but I still should meet all my little brother's friends."

"You've run background checks. Even though we couldn't get at the internet in the lockdown."

"Of course."

"Haru's right, you really do have a brother complex."

"I've seen you die too many times," Naoya said finally. "I don't want to see that happen again. I thought you were safe when you came back to life the first time: you were the King of Bel, protector of the world, and I was just a human with a curse who kept reincarnating. You were immortal, and you were always there when I found my way back to your city. Then came the ordeal, and the angels shattered your soul and destroyed all the civilization we'd worked to create, trying to grind mankind down into the dirt. Until you have the rest of your soul and your power back, I'm going to worry about you. And even then." He lifted his hand to stroke Kazuya's hair, vaguely aware of but ignoring the hangers-on in the background who weren't interrupting the brothers' reunion. "I do try to be a good big brother."

"Even when you're a jerk," Kazuya said, and smiled up at him.

"First, it runs in the family. Second, all big brothers have a responsibility to toughen their younger siblings up a bit. I'd have thought you'd be used to it by now." Naoya tapped his nose to see him go cross-eyed. "Now. Exactly how much trouble am I in?"

"Actually, Mom and Dad are being surprisingly laid-back about the entire thing. It's actually really suspicious," Abel told him. "It's like either they knew all along and were able to spy on us somehow to make sure we were fine so they didn't get worried or they're comparing it to what _they_ did in their teens and twenties and going, 'Well, at least nobody got nuked and the world wasn't conquered by angels for more than a day or so.'"

Well, that was a surprise, but Naoya would deal with it later, when he was a little more awake. "Who do I have to talk to in order to get the needle out of my arm? Or are they planning to put me under again as soon as you leave?"

"Probably Commander Fushimi, he's the big hero of the whole thing," Abel said, "Which really embarrasses him since he thinks I should get the credit." So he wasn't much trouble for Kazuya to deal with. "Did you really do something like phantasm to get out of your handcuffs? You have got to teach me that."

"I did?" If so, "Damn." It wasn't as though there'd been much chance they'd trust him to begin with, but temporarily escaping after he'd turned himself in?

"Do you remember any of it? Like, at one point I heard from Izuna that you tried to make out with Gin."

Naoya peered at him. "…What?" Who did Captain Izuna think she was, and why did she thinks she could get away with telling his little brother a story like that? "I'm fairly sure that didn't happen. I vaguely remember Haru hitting on me, though."

"_Haru_ hit on you?" Now Kazuya was the startled one.

"She said I had the same dangerous scent about me that you do. It seems you have a fan, little brother." He ruffled that hair, practice keeping his hand from getting caught by those wires.

"…Amane's also getting charged."

"And I presume you're nervous about saying that because you want me to help someone who tried to convince you to help the angels conquer humanity by being the face they could put on the campaign." And he'd also said it to change the subject, of course.

"Well, she got possessed by Remiel because she needed help fighting off Jezebel, and if Jezebel is a part of me, then I kind of started this by using her to kill Jikoku…"

Naoya sighed and patted the cat-earphoned and equally sly-hearted boy on the head. "I'll see what I can do." At least Kazuya was more worried about the Shomonkai maiden now than about Naoya. He'd sunk pretty low, as he'd said while describing the plan to break out of the lockdown, if someone who was currently practically a normal human was worrying about _him_. Speaking of which, "You didn't absorb Belberith's power, did you."

"I wanted to stay human," Abel confessed.

Naoya sighed again. "All of the bels are just parts of _you, _and we humans have free will. It's perfectly possible for you to be King of Bel and remain human. Do you really want him and Jezebel to be out there making trouble? They are parts of you, after all." And if Kazuya felt enough guilt over Jezebel's actions to try to manipulate Naoya using them… "Both of us are human, but we're not normal. We're the children of Adam and Eve, grandchildren of that bastard who is… who was always looking down on us from the sky. Most humans these days have angel, fallen angel, nymph… all sorts of blood that isn't human, and so their souls are also part demonic. Your soul has so much power because it's human, not because it isn't."

"I… Guess that's a relief." Except for the implications.

"As you've probably just guessed, megalomania also runs in the family. Our father was intended to be God's equal, the rank he later gave to that toady Enoch, also known as Metatron." Naoya scowled. "We were meant to be gods, and they tried to turn us into…" No, whatever was in his blood would make it too easy for him to fall into a rage, and that wouldn't help his case at all. "Slaves with our tongues cut out and worse," was what he settled for. "And now we're finally free." That knowledge calmed him, let him smile again. "And it's all thanks to you. I didn't foresee that happening at all: I thought it would take a war and our only hope was to strike before they took our ability to communicate away from us."

"With what the angels did all over the world, it's too late to try to cover up the existence of demons," Abel told him.

Naoya frowned. "I figured that much out." Did his brother think him an idiot now?

"Sorry, but that means people would be more likely to actually believe that you're Cain, and there are a lot of people," even among his friends, "who see _him _leaving us alone as a bad thing."

Naoya chuckled. "If _you're _worried for _me… _Don't worry, I'll be fine either way." Even if someone managed to sneak in to kill him, since Japan didn't have the death penalty. What was really concerning him was, "Since Jezebel ran away to the demon world and abandoned him, Belberith will probably devour her, so either way there's only one demon you need to kill in order to be complete…" If he'd absorbed Belberith like he should have, Jezebel would have remained.

"You're still thinking about that?" Abel asked him. When Abel had just told him that Naoya would probably have fanatic assassins about him, Naoya was still thinking about the Bels instead?

"Of course. You are my brother, after all, and first I…" It took him a moment to say it. "Killed you, and then I failed to protect you from those damned angels. I may be taking a break to celebrate," and recover, "but I'm not going to give up on making you whole again." For the benefit of the listeners, he added, "It will have to wait until the next life, though. I'll want to give Belberith plenty of time to revive and track down Jezebel, and he'll be on guard against being hauled into this world to be slaughtered."

"You're not going to unleash demons again, are you?" Naoya knew Abel, too, was asking this for the sake of the listeners.

"Of course not. It won't be easy, since he is a part of you, but summoning _one _demon is a much simpler proposition than training a population to resist an Ordeal. You saw the devil auction: humans have been doing it for thousands of years and it wasn't until the Lockdown started and people became desperate that it became a problem."

"…That was _boot camp?" _It wasn't Kazuya that demanded an answer to that startled question, but one of the guards.

"Ah, Agent Izuna," Naoya drawled, although she must be aware that they'd never met. "What's this about telling my little brother that I hit on some insect?"

"You were _arming _the populace of Tokyo?" she asked again, ignoring his question.

"You didn't figure that out? Of course you didn't." They were such fools compared to him, trying to treat with angels as though angels would respect human governance in the first place. Those who didn't learn from history were doomed to repeat it, although he'd been forced to recognize that millennia ago. "The Shomonkai instructed everyone who joined them and gave them comps, as well as trying to protect the refugee camps, but I knew that Azuma and others would yield to temptation and sell them on the black market." Izuna had seen what happened when Yakuza got their hands on comps. "Should I have left all the civilians defenseless against the attacks of human criminals, the Bel demons and the angels? The servants of the Bel demons, both demons and human cultists realized they could use the comps, but they would have turned Tokyo into a battleground even without them."

"But what you were really doing was forcing them to learn to fight the angels for you," she accused him.

"Yes," red-eyed Cain agreed. "That, too. The Bel demons and loose demons weren't the major threat to humanity: shouldn't you know by now?" He looked her up and down. "Someone who's more than half-demon herself should be aware that demons aren't necessarily evil, much less the biggest threat to humanity. They aren't _organized _the way angels are: most of them will happily take advantage of us if we're weak, but they treat each other the same way. They aren't dedicated to reducing us to a lesser race because they adore God and they're jealous of the attention he gives us, no matter how abusive."

She took a step back, orange eyes glinting with anger obviously covering fear, showing her teeth in a threat instead of a smile. "How dare you say I'm half-demon!"

"Because I know basic genetics. Don't worry, it's probably not true that one of your parents is a demon. You need demonic ancestry on _both _sides to have quite a few of your physical traits: they're recessives." Cain grinned. "Why make such a fuss about it? There's no such thing as a pure human anymore, not genetically, anyway. It's been thousands of years, and the strong survive, especially when _heaven _gives us no help, unless you consider smashing our civilizations 'help.'"

When she didn't have anything to say to that Naoya laughed. "I think it says very good things about humanity that after all these millennia of persecution, we love God far, far more than he loves us. Humanity has forgiven him over and over for all his crimes against us and still believes that he's a good person despite everything… Of course, I've noticed that children abused bytheir parents act exactly the same way. We don't _want _to believe that we were brought into this world by monsters, that the ones giving us guidance see us only as convenient slaves or …toys." The pause before the world toys left no doubt as to what kind of toys Naoya was talking about.

Kazuya elbowed him in the side, hard. "Don't be a jerk. And don't try to tell me that you think it's okay just because it runs in the family."

After Naoya caught his breath he smiled at his brother. "Point taken. Don't worry, Captain Izuna. As I said, there hasn't been a genetically pure human in ages. Anyone who tried to discriminate against you would have to discriminate against everyone. If it becomes an issue, let me know and I'll draw you a testing spell you can use on whoever's calling the kettle black." He hated hypocrisy, people who considered themselves better, holier than others.

"You can draw spells?" she asked him, professionalism back.

"Yes, and so can a lot of people." So getting rid of him and Amane wouldn't be getting rid of the only people who could cast spells, or summon demons. "Ofuda, for example. I experimented with quite a few methods of spellcasting before computers. Before paper, for that matter."

"Is there any way to seal your powers or verify that you're not casting magic?" Because otherwise, that needle was staying in his arm and he was going right back to sleep after this.

* * *

_Poor Alice and Nebrios. Unless Abel lets Belial out to play (and be a bonus boss in DS2), he's destroyed their little family. I would feel very sorry for them if it weren't for the whole killing people thing._


	5. Chapter 5

_A bit of Fridge Horror: In Atsuro's route, Amane dies. According to Remiel, Jezebel was remote-fragged by Belberith, and what happens to Amane if Jezebel is killed without Amane being freed and given a chance to escape first? Exactly. Even at the end of the route, Remiel is still in control of Amane's body and according to the Shomonkai & Atsuro, Remiel has been talking to people and identifying him/itself as Amane even after Jezebel is gone and Amane would have woken up _if she was still alive_. _

_Playing through Atsuro's route and comparing Remiel to Sariel (there's a missable scene with Sariel in Shiba Park on the last day before the choice, too) is the best proof you can get without having Overclocked that there really is a difference between Remiel and the other angels: despite the other party members saying how selfish Remiel is (and it's true that the angels' dogma is incredibly selfish) earlier in the game, Remiel is _incredibly _nice for an angel, and actually says that he hopes that humanity can overcome the ordeal without needing to be taken over by the angels instead of regretting the missed chance at a world of law. _

_The Eighth days show that compassion and forgiveness, as well as actually valuing human life, all things that Remiel has or sees as virtues, are… Not really things the other angels apply unless they have to. Since Remiel can control Amane's body even after her soul has been destroyed, it's clear that he didn't have to go out of his way to try to save the soul of a demon worshipper, picking a fight with a Bel demon in the process & putting himself at risk. _

_This version of Naoya hates Remiel on principle because Remiel is an angel and actively trying to get Naoya to blame himself for something that God deliberately entrapped him into, but at certain points in Atsuro's route Remiel seems to have more faith in Cain's fundamental goodness & trustworthiness than the party does, including Naoya's own apprentice who does admire him very much. I do think that Remiel's desire to help humans is genuine, and that likely means that Naoya would be willing to admit at least that much on account of when Remiel has helped him._

* * *

"How to be certain I'm not working magic to escape… Now, there's an interesting question," Naoya said, getting comfortable in the bed as his mind finally woke up. "You did use a comp, so you are aware of auto abilities and race abilities? Humans do have race abilities of their own, and mine are strong for obvious reasons." He decided not to mention that his auto ability induced awe and adoration, like Kazuya's, similar to the effect angels, god himself and Aunt Lilith had on humans. "I also haven't had a chance to test whether or not the parts of the curse that didn't involve _him _constantly spying on me are still here: besides the immortality, there's also the part that kills all my plants." Something that seemed half resentment and half-grief flashed in his eyes. "So a spell that just checked whether or not I was doing magic would say that I was, all the time, even if I deactivated all my protective spells." And an arsenal of others, quite a lot of them woven into his haori.

"As for _blocking _my ability to do magic, unless you have some powerful demons you're willing to trust, you'd need to find quite a few devil summoners with holy powers derived from gods other than _that _one," Naoya said, nodding at the sky. "The kind that get lumped in with demons, like Amaterasu. Right now, I'm certain that all of Japan's are busy reinforcing wards and seals, and it wasn't just _his _servants that were trying to wipe out the followers of other gods throughout the world." China's cultural revolution had decimated its defenders. "To make matters worse, God was quite jealous with his title. Metatron, the four archangels: there are quite a lot of beings in this tradition that would qualify as members of the pantheon, subordinate gods, in other religions."

"Including you?" Izuna asked, certain what the answer would be.

Of course. "The devas themselves called Belberith a god, and how many more believe in me than believed in? Of course, he _does _have a large fraction of Abel's power, and the children of a god are often gods themselves." Cain looked at the arm he had wrapped around his brother. "The one that betrays the child of God and is doomed to wander for eternity: I seem to have picked up Judas' belief as well, since our legends have become blurred together and I'm fairly certain he didn't exist. I can't testify to that: I was in China and South America around then, but if there really was a new covenant made with humanity, one centered around forgiveness instead of death, it's obvious that no one told the angels." Or perhaps God had made the mistake of telling Metatron and Metatron, jealous, simply hadn't passed it along? Ha, now Naoya was the one finding excuses for his grandfather.

"Megalomaniac," Kazuya accused him almost fondly.

"I didn't say I wanted to be a god, I'm just more powerful than quite a few who do call themselves that. And _you're _the one who was worshipped." Kazuya made a face. "That was your reaction back then, too. In private, at least. Not in front of your adoring fans."

"Adoring fans… You make it sound like Haru."

Naoya just smiled to himself.

"You know something I don't know, huh?"

"I know a lot of things you don't. It's one of those 'big brother' things." Naoya's smile was soft. "And didn't you wonder why the angels were trying to make you into the Messiah? The anointed one, king and god, a benevolent god-king both human and divine, god's child who dies because it is god's will: it seems I'm not the only one who had humanity's memory of them bound up into a new myth. It seems they still remember the truth of your reign, on some level, despite everything the angels did." And Naoya was glad, because his brother deserved that. But damn them for using his brother's kingdom, the kingdom they destroyed, to make themselves look good after doing everything they could to blacken its name!

"Are you saying that he's… the Messiah?" Izuna asked, somewhere between questioning his audacity and actual wonder, because she'd met Kazuya herself.

"Don't ask me, ask Remiel. Oh wait." They couldn't. Because, "My stalker is gone. He won't be constantly following me around, telling deceptive half-truths to blacken my name to anyone who dares befriend me, trying to seduce-" Naoya coughed, deciding that it would be a little much to go into the programmed adoration angels had for God and how that could lead to some rather… disturbing actions on their parts, on several levels, when it came to those whose souls were made exactly in his image. "Have I mentioned that that was the most wonderful day of my lives?" Thank goodness he had enough control of his limbs back to noogie his little brother. "In any case, Captain Izuna, don't worry about me trying to break out. I certainly don't have any objection to staying in protective custody." Given how many poor fools would want to kill him as word spread of God's abandonment to people who hadn't seen firsthand evidence of what the angels were like. "As long as no one's threatening to declare war on Japan in order to get you to hand me over for a nastier fate. I have no intention of causing more devastation to this country."

"That's not your concern," she told him, eyes narrowed. And he'd already caused too much devastation to act so noble now. And yet, the comps, the harmonizer Kazuya had explained to her… No, it wasn't her department and it hadn't been his decision to make. "What's your assessment, Priestess Kuzuryu?"

"He is very powerful," Amane admitted, standing back in the corner shyly. She wished she hadn't had to be here to hear all of that, and she reproached herself for feeling almost jealous of Kazuya. Her father had told her to suppress her emotions, while even Cain cared for his brother's true feelings? "I could tell you when he casts any major spells, but if he did something like that, I'm sure he would wait until there wasn't anything I could do about it." Or the guards. "I'm sorry, as a priestess I serve as a vessel for holy and profane voices, and without their power I'm almost powerless."

"Tell me something," Naoya said, cutting off Kazuya before he could try to tell her that wasn't so. "Had you already heard Remiel's voice when you asked me to stay with the Shomonkai?"

She glanced at Izuna, but it seemed harmless, so she answered, "Yes."

"And he wanted you to try to become my friend. Told you that I would help free you from Jezebel, kill Belberith and save humanity from failing God's ordeal, but it was just a matter of redeeming me, turning me onto the right path, something that you could accomplish if you had a 'pure heart.'"

"…Yes."

Naoya sighed. "That's my stalker for you. Do you have any idea how many people he's flung at me? Calling me a poor sinner yet loved by god, and so they'll have his favor if they manage to seduce me or find some other way to win me over." With Remiel in their bodies at the time… How God had programmed the angels really was creepy. Brilliant, Naoya had to admit simply as a professional matter, but creepy. "But joking aside, what really angers me about Remiel is that he's one of the best angels left. Unlike most of them, he's actually _seen _humanity instead of just listening to other angels, who hate us because God liked us better at the beginning, or valued our submission more since we actually could choose whether or not to give him our souls and mindless adoration. I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd gone along with plans to end the ordeal that didn't involve the other angels conquering us. He's spent thousands of years trying to induce Stockholm Syndrome in me, force me to swallow the dogma of my captors, but he's developed a little Lima Syndrome himself, a little compassion for the poor mortals and their brief, unenlightened lives wracked by hunger, disease and desperation. Listen to Sariel: 'all humans do is break God's heart, they must be punished,' and not a thought for what _we _endure because of all God has inflicted on us, what drives us to sin.

"It wasn't like that at the beginning: Lucifer was thrown out of heaven for saying things like that about my father. Then things changed in the centuries after I was marked and all the angels who came to teach humans things that would make their lives better, all the ones who actually helped humans or loved them as God's children, as they had been told by God: they were labeled fallen, one by one, or confined to Heaven if they were too powerful to lose. It says something about Remiel that he's warned other humans away from me because he's been worried about _them_, instead of just to strip me of allies." To cost him jobs, to…

Regardless, Naoya had to admit that, "It says something that he still believes in redemption by love instead of forcing humans to admit that they're weak, dirty, inferior creatures, nowhere near as good, glorious, obedient or worthy of God's love as angels. So yes, he was using you, but he genuinely was trying to help you, if that makes you feel better. He definitely was trying to save humanity from the consequences of failing the ordeal, either of them." Subjugation or mass starvation caused by inability to communicate. "He really would have tried his hardest to save you from Jezebel. And that," Naoya realized, frowning. "Is why he's going to be used as heaven's scapegoat for this and made a fallen angel. Angel programming being what it is, he'll convince himself that if he can just 'save me,' God will love him again." So damn, he wasn't rid of his stalker after all.

"How do you know that?" Amane asked him, faint surprise leaking past the priestess' trained mask of calm.

"Because I've spent thousands of years watching those bastards and their politics… Oh, don't tell me. It's already happened while I was out, hasn't it. Metatron moves fast, I'll give him that." Naoya sighed. "And now you'll probably forgive him and let him in even though he's a fallen angel now because of what I said. This is all your fault, brother."

"What? Why?" Abel demanded.

"For asking me to help the girl. Now in order to reassure her that she hasn't spent her _entire _life being deluded and used by one supernatural power or another, I've as good as invited my stalker to spend the entire trial annoying me." Damn it, Naoya thought, pushing back his silver hair. "This is going to be worse than that time he was your wet nurse."

"What?"

Alright, maybe shocking Kazuya like that was some consolation. "Figure it out, brother. We've incarnated for thousands of years and while the two of us have been watched over, _our parents haven't been_. Human lives were usually nasty, brutish and short, no thanks to _him_. This time, I've lost my parents relatively quickly and painlessly. That time, mine died in the plague that wiped out most of our people, your mother died in childbirth and your father ran off without taking her with him and never came back. There was no one left in the village except a seven-year-old, a newborn and a woman who was paralyzed in half her body and wasn't long for this world. Oh, I already knew how to compound formula, but you were underweight, your mother had been infected and you needed all the help you could get to survive… No, let me rephrase that. If you had been _anyone _else, you would have ended up just one more infant mortality statistic if anyone had bothered to keep track of that sort of thing back then. Most babies died without reaching their third year. That was just how it was in the world God gave us."

Cain clenched his fists. "And of course I can't even_ pick food_ from a damn vegetable garden without blighting everything else in it, without having to scavenge from homes with the dead bodies still in them and nearby deserted villages and risk getting infected or killed by the other jackals… And I couldn't have left you alone for that long anyway." He would have had to take a baby with him, expose him to that risk. "Remiel used the woman as a vessel so he had an excuse to restore her health and nursed you: he was in control most of the time because she was so devastated by everyone's deaths she was practically catatonic. I killed bandits, placed a lot of traps and nets for fish and game and made _him_ clean or loot what I caught." Naoya grimaced. "We made it, but I had to listen to a lot of sermons." He looked around. "Patients aren't allowed alcohol, are they. Probably a good thing." And who knew how it might react with the sedatives. "I'd still like some water." He normally didn't talk this much, especially to his brother, who didn't need to know all of this.

"Naoya…" And there it was, the concern, the guilt in those eyes for everything Cain had suffered because of him.

"Don't listen to me, I'm still drugged and rambling. And don't you dare blame yourself, you know who's responsible. This is why I don't talk about it," Naoya grumbled, looking around for his water. "You can't understand anyway, not the way you are now, so be gratefu-_And who let him in_."

Narrowed red eyes trained a death glare on a blond-haired man around Honda's age, but in a much nicer suit. He just held up a hand to ward off Naoya's hatred. "I'm here as your chief attorney."

"Brother, tell that bastard that I will accept his help over his dead body," Naoya said through clenched teeth, turning away. "Also, all of you are idiots."

"Naoya says," Abel started to say as he observed the man, since it gave him time to make those observations.

"I heard. Under the circumstances, isn't it time to let bygones be bygones? Humanity has finally freed itself from His shackles," the man said, smiling as though he was genuinely happy for them but now that he was looking, Kazuya could see the razor-sharp envy underlying that expression, as though this was something the man desperately craved, and thus wanted to exist, even though he knew very well he could never have it.

"Brother, tell that bastard that his father is not the only person in the universe that matters and once again I am _not speaking to him_, not after what he did to Mother. And if he says 'it was for her own good,' I will cut out his heart with a trowel, megidoladyne be damned. We both know that's not why he did it, he did it to ruin their lives because he was jealous." Bastard. "And how did he end up my attorney, anyway? He didn't even bother to look Japanese!"

"Do you want me to apologize to them?" the man said, spreading his hands.

"That would be nice, although what I'm upset about is that you used me to get at my husband," Kazuya's mother said, poking her head in through the door. When both the man and Naoya turned to stare at her, she continued, "And Mr. Schiffer is your attorney because your father twisted his arm, so be nice, Nyao-chan. Also, watch your language in front of your little brother. We'll have a talk about you winding up in the hospital with alcohol poisoning later." Just because it was normal for Japanese salarymen to do that kind of thing didn't mean her son was allowed to ruin his liver.

"…Yes, Mother," Naoya said, still shocked.

After the door closed, Izuna said, "I take it the two of you didn't know that your parents," or step-parents, in Naoya's case, "Were key to resolving the last demon outbreak in Tokyo?"

"No," Kazuya said, since Naoya was still staring at the door wondering how the hell he had failed to figure this out before.

"We didn't know either, until a member of the American delegation told us." They'd gotten international assistance in keeping up the barrier beyond the lockdown. "According to Steven Hawking there was time travel involved, but since the two cults involved back then had the backing of both members of our government and the American ambassador," who had been replaced by a demon working for the angels according to documents Izuna had finally been cleared for: the whole thing had been a major embarrassment that almost caused WWIII. "Afterwards the miko who led the magical resistance and some of the heroic civilians she worked with disappeared into hiding for their own protection. Your father was another one, Naoya." It was a pity his son had contributed to the problem instead of helping to protect Tokyo like his father, who had become involved in this incident when his girlfriend, and future wife, was mistaken for the miko and kidnapped because they had the same name.

"Unfortunately their identities and the truth of that incident were buried so deeply that we were unaware of their existence, but they'd kept in contact with some of the individuals who assisted them during the outbreak." Including one of the American soldiers deployed during the incident, who had eventually become the Embassy's officer for supernatural affairs. "When they were released from custody, they returned home first and then came to the hospital with some rather strange equipment." Swords, guns, a couple of devices that were probably similar to comps but if Izuna didn't ask, she wouldn't have to try to confiscate them. "They insisted on being allowed to guard you until you woke up."

It embarrassed Izuna that their assistance had been necessary. They only had so many SDF tamers: it wasn't until after one of the officers had put his gun to the underside of Naoya's throat and pulled the trigger that testimony from his soldiers had revealed he'd convinced them that murdering even innocent tamers was the only way for them to survive the lockdown: he'd even fought Kazuya twice. If Kazuya's parents hadn't been there to use recarm and have their demons cast shielding and sleep magic until the confusion over who attacked who first was resolved thanks to the security cameras, they would have lost a key defendant and source of information on the demon threat, in addition to the shame of having a prisoner under their protection killed by one of their own men.

She might have cared more for the loss of life if she hadn't experienced the lockdown for himself. This one would come back to life. So many innocent civilians the SDF had actually had no alternative but to kill because of the demons and the comps wouldn't.

Naoya put his hand to his forehead. If these drugs didn't prevent them, he was certain he'd have a headache. "Just tell me he isn't representing me in court."

"I have people for that," 'Lou Schiffer' said, looking at the door with an expression that one would have called worried if it hadn't been on the Great Darkness' face.

"Good." One somewhat-intelligent person in the audience (or _TV _audience, if they went for a show trial) and Naoya would be doomed, because who but an utterly evil person would have _him _for a defense attorney?

Maybe he would have to reconsider just how angry his parents were with him.

How angry _Adam and Eve _were. When he'd killed their other child and then run away, too ashamed to face them, leaving them to grieve alone.

Maybe it wasn't too late to escape through a wall and run for it?

They were right outside so yes, yes it was too late.

But still he found himself laughing, almost with relief: no, definitely with relief, because at least they were willing to talk to him, at least they would give him a chance. Give Kazuya a chance to argue on his behalf.

Taking responsibility, huh?

Well, then. Facing them was far more important than facing some politically-selected judges. And if he tried to escape them, they'd never let him live it down.

That ran in the family, too.

* * *

_In Atsuro's route, I basically assumed that Naoya would bust out as soon as they didn't need him anymore, since Sariel would leave after the lockdown/ordeal was resolved, not guard him for the sake of _human _justice. But in a route where he himself preaches responsibility, it would be better for him to put his money where his mouth is and really, for someone used to thinking in terms of centuries, a life sentence isn't that big a deal._

_There is no feud like a family feud._

_As in my other fic Wilderness, Kazuya/Abel's parents are Kazuya and Yuka, the MC and Female Hero from SMTI, aka Adam and Eve, although in this 'verse they found a reboot ending and they're going, at least they weren't forced to kill us, or spend twenty years fighting for survival in hell… So whatever Kazuya Jr. went through because of Naoya seems like nothing to write home about by comparison, and they're very understanding about the need to prevent despotic angels from wiping out most of the human race._

_Still, poor fallen angel!Remiel. _

_Like Gabriel in Wasteland, I do think that watching over humans gave him actual compassion for him and he did what he could to help even before the game. Since Naoya's plantbane curse would have been an _incredible _handicap before the modern era, it's interesting to imagine an Enemy Mine situation between the two of them because while Cain would rather die than ask for an angel's help for himself, especially his jailor's, if Abel needs help he'd do it, or Remiel would offer. Thinking about death rates before modern medicine, it's very likely the two of them effectively ended up Abel's step-parents in at least one life. We're not talking Crowley and Aziraphale levels of _Arrangement, _but enough that Naoya might miss Remiel if he was trapped in heaven, if only because things that have been around you for millennia grow on you like a fungus. It's jarring when something that was a constant in your life is suddenly gone._


End file.
